Robots and computer literacy go hand in hand for classrooms in the 21st century

Robots and computer literacy go hand in hand for classrooms in the 21st century

Students are learning a 2nd language as early as the 1st grade in innovative private schools all over the United States. They're not learning French, Chinese, Spanish, or Latin. They're learning C++: a programming language. It's easier to pick up a language when you're young, apparently, computer languages apply as well. Taking place alongside the coding revolution in early education seems to be robot-assisted education. Robots are great for helping teachers to explain abstract concepts, especially in the fields of science and math.

Some schools are even having students program the robots themselves. Interacting with robots at an early age exposes students to how computers think. This allows them to better interact with technology and to become computer literate. Students equipped with coding knowledge/computer literacy are students that are equipped with the knowledge they need to succeed in the 21st century. Just like the push for universal literacy in many nations around the world in the 20th century, we should be seeing similar pushing for computer literacy in the 21st century, and robots can help.

Robots are also great at teaching younger students how to read and define complicated words. Students are much more willing to ask questions, taking academic risks when interacting with a robot. Unlike teachers, robots don't lose their patience when a student fails to understand a concept. This prevents the sadly all-too-common case of students pretending that they understand a concept to please their teacher, only to be unprepared when it later comes up. Of course, students also have an easier time paying attention to lessons given by robots.

Unfortunately, robots are too expensive for a full rollout in most school districts, at least so far. In addition, most teachers have no idea how to use robots to their full potential. It's just that many teachers never received training in educating students through technology. As robots become cheaper and as more computer educated teachers join classrooms we'll start to see robots appearing in classrooms all across the world.